Vandals puncture tyres on SIX ambulances as the NHS is pushed to its limit during coronavirus outbreak

Samantha Lock

23 Mar 2020, 0:55

Updated: 23 Mar 2020, 1:34

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Six ambulances were unable to deliver life-saving care after vandals punctured the tyres in a mindless act as the nation battles the coronavirus crisis.

The emergency response vehicles were targeted at a Make Ready Depot in Ramsgate, Kent, on Sunday.

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Six ambulances had their tyres punctured by mindless vandalsCredit: Steve Finn

Paramedics already feeling the strain amid the spread of Covid-19 arrived at work shortly after 7am on Sunday to find holes had been deliberately drilled into the tyres in a senseless overnight attack.

A driver was preparing to take one of the ambulances from the vehicle preparation centre to a paramedic station when the damage was discovered.

The vehicles needed to be taken off the road and an alarm was raised at 7.10am.

One enraged paramedic posted a series of photos of the vandalised ambulances on social media.

South East Coast Ambulance Service tweeted: "Six of our ambulances were deliberately damaged overnight in Kent.

"Beyond disappointed that anyone would do this ever, let alone now when our staff are under so much pressure.

"Well done to Fleet & Make Ready teams for getting these back on the road asap.

"And this is in such contrast to the vast majority of the public who are being fantastically supportive of our staff #TeamSECAmb."

Make Ready Centres prepares ambulances by cleaning, restocking and checking the equipment on ambulances before the beginning and at the end of every shift.

Kent Police are now investigating the incident and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

ALREADY UNDER STRAIN

Boris Johnson has already warned the NHS faces being totally overwhelmed by coronavirus just like the swamped health service has been in Italy.

He fears the system could start to fall apart within just two weeks unless Brits heed lockdown advice aimed at stopping the spread of the killer pandemic.

Doctors have already warned a "tsunami" of severely ill patients is about to swamp them as the numbers of people struck down in the UK tops 5,000.

London hospital Northwick Park runs out of space in intensive care declaring a ‘critical incident’ amid the coronavirus crisis

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